1. Field of the Related Art
The present disclosure relates to print management systems and paper-reducing technologies, and more particularly, to a method and system for automatically creating print governance rules and policies.
2. Background of the Related Art
Organizations such as business enterprises, educational, government and medical institutions often have large expenditures relating to printing paper documents, and often experience difficulty with control over the flow of information by printed documents, as the print volume of multifunctional systems has risen sharply in recent years. In the printing context, the main issue is the cost-per-page of high-performance multifunctional systems. In most entities, attempts to control high-performance multifunctional system print volumes and the associated cost increases have been largely unsuccessful. To make matters worse, potential environmental issues with high-performance multifunctional system are becoming a concern. Resolving these issues is a top priority among IT professionals and the corporations that employ a plurality of multifunctional systems for their business needs.
Furthermore, photocopiers continue to advance in terms of the functionality and flexibility they provide. For example, rather than being stand alone machines as they once were, many copy machines now have digital processing capabilities and network interfaces which allow them to be connected to a computer network. This provides a variety of advantages. One such advantage is that the copiers may be used as multi-function devices (MFDs) not only for performing traditional photocopying, but also for printing documents generated by computers connected to the network. Moreover, where copiers are connected to a computer network, it becomes possible to collect status and usage information from the computers remotely via a network server or other network terminal. Another advantageous aspect of having networked copiers or MFDs is the ability to monitor and account for the usage of such MFDs.
In general, an MFD operates as a plurality of different imaging devices, including, but not limited to, a printer, copier, fax machine, and/or scanner. In recent years the basic office copier has evolved into what can be referred to as a MFD. With digital technology, a machine with the basic outward appearance of a traditional copier can perform at least the additional functions of printing documents submitted in digital form over a network, sending and receiving messages via facsimile, recording hard-copy original images in digital form and sending the resulting data over a network, such as in electronic mail and/or recording hard-copy original images in digital form on a compact disc or equivalent medium.
In the area of digital printing and copying, there has been a growth in demand for MFDs. Such MFD devices may assume the form of an arrangement in which a single print engine (e.g., xerographic or thermal ink jet print engine) is coupled with a plurality of different image input devices (or “services”), with such devices being adapted to produce image related information for use by the printer or transmitted over a network. The image related information, in one example, could have its origin in video facsimile signals, microfilm, data processing information, light scanning platens for full size documents, aperture cards, and microfiche. MFDs provide a broader range of functionality than traditional single-function devices, such as dedicated printers, copiers, and scanners. As a result, because of their network transmission capabilities combined with their functionality, it would be useful to automatically generate a plurality of rules and/or policies related to the usage of such MFDs, without the need of a system administrator manually creating such processes, which are prone to human error. Thus, proactively detecting issues related to governance rules and/or policies can be problematic and time consuming for system administrators of output management solutions.
However, ensuring smooth deployment of an output management solution at a customer environment is required to maintain user productivity, while meeting the customers' service level agreement expectations. This can be a difficult process to manage, especially when print governance policies and/or rules are being manually applied by a system administrator. Any gaps in governance could result in missed cost savings. Policies and/or rules need to be created, and applied to the print devices under management. These policies and/or rules are essential to controlling print, and meeting the cost savings promised in the services agreement. But generating these rules and/or policies is a time consuming manual process. Even if assessment data is available, it still needs to be studied and summarized.
Consequently, in conventional systems, there is no method and system for automatically creating governance rules and/or policies from pre-existing MFD information. The present disclosure is intended to overcome the drawbacks of other methods and systems by providing for an effective print/scan/copy/fax job tracking/monitoring/controlling/system and method by automatically generating governance rules and/or policies related to the plurality of users and the plurality of MFDs within a network of MFDs.